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Low Contact Point

My coach pointed out that I contact the shuttle at a relatively low point, resulting from a lack of elbow preparation. I can do the stroke properly during "shadowing," but during game situations, I don't raise my elbow high enough or supinate fully; resulting in low clears and less powerful/steep smashes. How I can improve my elbow preparation and timing issues? :/

My coach pointed out that I contact the shuttle at a relatively low point, resulting from a lack of elbow preparation. I can do the stroke properly during "shadowing," but during game situations, I don't raise my elbow high enough or supinate fully; resulting in low clears and less powerful/steep smashes. How I can improve my elbow preparation and timing issues? :/

So you are trying to say that because you hit the shuttle lower than you actually should, you get a steeper smash with less power? Or you get both less power and less steepness?

My coach pointed out that I contact the shuttle at a relatively low point, resulting from a lack of elbow preparation. I can do the stroke properly during "shadowing," but during game situations, I don't raise my elbow high enough or supinate fully; resulting in low clears and less powerful/steep smashes. How I can improve my elbow preparation and timing issues? :/

hi there,

If your contact point while hitting the birdie is low then obviously that most of your ascending hits such as clears as well as your offensive hits such as smash will be less effective because the contact point for such hits has not being address at its optimal height thus producing a less optimal outcome.

Its imperative for you to understand that if you want to produce an optimal outcome from the aspect of height, length and trajectory angle for all your clear and smash (in fact all your hits basically), you MUST initiate that hitting effort at those incoming birdie at its optimal contact point first as this will in result will give you an optimal results logically.

If the outcome of your clear and smash as mention earlier is very poor as a result of you addressing the birdie at a more lower contact point because you're not raising your elbow high enough to properly prepare your forearm for a descent swinging arc then you must ask yourself why. If it's a part of a bad habit that has been a second nature for you then it's time for you to remind yourself that such arm preparation will produce a poor swinging technique if it's continuously being perform. The only way for you to rectify this is through regular hitting drills so that such frequent practice will emphasize your mind about what are the right preparation and technique that you need to do for such hits and hopefully it will then be a second nature for you eventually.

If you can mimic in producing a correct hitting technique in your shadows then just be confident in yourself that you can also produce a similar hitting technique in a real scenario. If you don't understand what is the descent elevation height that your elbow need to be while preparing yourself to do a hit, just make sure that prior to any of your hits for clear and smash, your armpit angle between your body and elbow when its raise should be at 90 degree. At this elevation, your racket head should be over your head to give you a high chance of hitting those incoming birdie at a more higher contact point. Regularly practice this and then what you need to do further is to identify what is the optimal contact point for those hit since addressing the birdie at its highest point will not necessarily mean that you're addressing it at its optimal height. Therefore, its very important for you to fully understand at your level of playing style, what will be the most optimal contact point that you can "feel and appreciate" while doing drills and then access the quality of all your hits from this assessment and then make the necessary improvements in your hitting technique and footwork to further improve the quality of your hits.

This is a bit off topic -
Sometimes lowering the contact point has its advantages.
1. changing the timing (throw off split step).
2. deception (hold and hit)
3. given low enough (coming straight at eye level or traveling slight upward), it neutralized our depth perception.

I find myself easier to "see" the shutter traveling downward, but hard to read drop/drive when it is coming straight at my eyes.

Thank-you for the advice everyone. I guess the only solution is to have someone feed me birds and practice clearing and smashing with the correct technique. But I'm not sure how much I need to back swing? At beginner level, they teach you to have the racket head touching your back, but I know this isn't necessary.

At beginner level, they teach you to have the racket head touching your back, but I know this isn't necessary.

God no. We haven't taught back-scratching for at least 15 years. That method of teaching was dead before I even started coaching.

Rather than go through all the technique here, I shall shamelessly point you to my guide to clears and smashes. This doesn't cover everything, but it's a good start.

One tip to focus on: concentrate on the position of your elbow. Before hitting the shuttle, you need to bring your elbow upwards and forwards as you open out your arm and reach for the shuttle. To some extent, the elbow leads the shot.

My coach pointed out that I contact the shuttle at a relatively low point, resulting from a lack of elbow preparation. I can do the stroke properly during "shadowing," but during game situations, I don't raise my elbow high enough or supinate fully; resulting in low clears and less powerful/steep smashes. How I can improve my elbow preparation and timing issues? :/

i second what Kwun said, drills are very important, it trains your muscles to remember the way you're suppose to hit if you drill it long enough.